The report explained: "John Paul II, who died in 2005, loved the mountains in the Abruzzo region east of Rome. He would sometimes slip away from the Vatican secretly to hike or ski there and pray in the church. In 2011, John Paul’s former private secretary, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, gave the local Abruzzo community some of the late pontiff’s blood as a token of the love he had felt for the mountainous area."

The report also noted that "the Polish-born John Paul, who reigned for 27 years, is due to be made a saint in May, meaning the relic will become more noteworthy and valuable."